Trustees discuss employee stipends

LA VERNIA -- Faculty and staff working for the La Vernia Independent School District (ISD) may see their pay increase by up to 3 percent.

During the June 18 meeting of the district’s board of trustees, Superintendent Tom Harvey suggested utilizing a stipend program to provide staff with a pay raise.

“Last year, the pay was frozen,” Harvey said. “We need to get our teachers and staff their pay raises this year. Even if we have to pull it from the fund balance, we need to get our staff their pay raises.”

The proposed increases will be discussed in further detail at a budget workshop, which should come before the end of the month.

“We need to have one in June,” Harvey said. “We have some teachers whose contracts are up in July, and we need to have this issue decided before then.”

The board also discussed the refinancing of debt held by the district.

“We had previously decided to refinance $6.5 million of debt held by the district,” Harvey said. “After looking at the numbers, a motion was passed to refinance $8.5 million, which will save us about $1 million of interest on that money.”

The trustees also:

•Authorized the superintendent to hire until the September board meeting

•Received a presentation by Technology Director Allen Bordelon about the process for providing a three-year technology plan.